16 August 2010

While the UK has made considerable strides over the past decade in protecting the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual lawyers, many still encounter discrimination in the workplace. Thirteen years ago Ashley Crossley was a pupil at a prominent London set. The gay tax lawyer’s career got off to a less than promising start, given […]

Some might say that being a ­professional development lawyer (PDL) at a top firm is the perfect training ground if you want to understand the mindset of a child. Some might say that being a ­professional development lawyer (PDL) at a top firm is the perfect training ground if you want to understand the mindset […]

While opening an office in Israel is a sensitive issue for magic circle firms, the country has become quite a magnet for individual lawyers – many from the UK – who are relocating in their droves. By James Swift ﻿Thanks largely to advances in the technology sector, Israel’s economy has grown significantly over the past […]

A cautionary tale reaches Tulkinghorn from LG, where the dangers of having a brand spanking new and attractive building were evident recently. One of Tulkinghorn’s spies had popped across the water to LG’s sparkling Thames-side home for a coffee with genial managing partner Hugh Maule. What neither expected to find was what appeared to be […]

Providing legal services to local councils – which often come under considerable public scrutiny – may not have the cachet of working for the private sector, but it’s certainly not without its share of controversy. The public sector is often seen as a cushy alternative to the cutthroat private sector. But try telling that to ­Harrow Council’s director of legal […]

What’s your favourite film? I’m torn between Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd and Love Actually. What was your first-ever job? Shop assistant and general dogsbody in a fashion shop in the Butt’s Shopping Centre in Reading. I worked nine and a half hours for a total of £9.50. What was your worst experience as a trainee/pupil? […]

A five-strong team of banking partners has left Latham & Watkins’ New York office to join Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy. Move of the week Among the arrivals is the former co-chair of Latham’s global banking practice Marc Hanrahan, who has been appointed as Milbank’s global head of leveraged finance. Partners Ronan Wicks, Marcus Dougherty, […]

New hires highlight UK firms’ ambition to break into sector. In the conservative world of investment banking, the winds of change tend to blow at a leisurely pace. But as senior lending continues to be thin on the ground in Europe, the inexorable rise of the high-yield bond market is altering the landscape, and the […]

Despite the continuing softness in some of its transactional areas, media and entertainment-focused Harbottle & Lewis had a solid 2009-10. Turnover was all but flat at £16.8m, while net profit was £4.5m, or £261,000 per equity partner. The firm’s equity spread ran from £114,000 to £345,000.While the firm has grown less aggressively over the years […]

Hill Dickinson had to shelve plans to take over the entirety of Halliwells because clients were ­abandoning the financially troubled firm once it looked as if it would enter administration, according to Hill Dickinson’s managing ­partner Peter Jackson. Jackson told The Lawyer he was “very satisfied with what we’ve got” after his firm picked up 129 members of […]

“Politics not justice” was how Lord Ashdown characterised the attempt by Serbia to extradite Ejup Ganic, the former vice president of Bosnia, a victim of Serbia’s wars of aggression in the early 1990s. After his arrest, Ganic spent 10 days in Wandsworth prison and five months on bail. A senior district judge at the City […]

Malcolm Davis-White QC of 4 Stone Buildings has been elected as chairman of the Chancery Bar Association. Davis-White, who took silk in 2003, will take over from Erskine Chambers’ Michael Todd QC, who held the post for three years. Davis-White said he was “honoured”, adding: “I’m looking forward to helping in the delivery of the […]